Prince Charles was greeted with a fearsome haka when he visited Wellington secondary school Tawa College today.
While selfies with the prince were a no-no, many pupils snapped him on their mobile phones as he made his way around the college. A lucky few even got a handshake.
“I touched his hand. I’m going to sell it for, like, a million dollars,” said one boy.
The school’s head pupils Joshua Nightingale, 18, and Briana Boele van Heasbroek, 18, greeted Charles and then showed him around.
Afterwards, Joshua said it was an honour to escort royalty. Briana said the prince was “very chatty” and “very friendly”.
“[He] wanted to say hi to everyone, which was just amazing.”
Charles chats about cricket with Tawa College students.
Joshua said Charles was an “awesome person”. “He’s very nice, kept the conversation, made it less awkward for us, made us less nervous.”
Charles toured the music department at Tawa College and had a look at economics scholars showing off their range of organic shower and bath products.
In the gym, pupils schooled the prince on the difference between indoor and outdoor cricket.
Across town, Charles’ wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visited combined dance and drama school Te Whaea and Toi Whakaari.
The Duchess wore a cream Oldfield dress and coat with a Scottish diamond thistle brooch that used to belong to the Queen’s mother.
Camilla was walked through the Design for Stage and Screen graduate students’ exhibition by Drama Director Christian Penny who said the visit by the duchess was “fantastic because it was a vote for the arts”.
Camilla meets students at combined dance and drama school Te Whaea and Toi Whakaari.
There she was shown, and interacted with, projects by the students. She was particularly taken by Chloe Alderton’s community art project, which is based on the latest adult colouring in trend. Camilla signed the project to the delight of the students.
She then moved through to the Costume Construction Workshop, and was impressed by the work being carried out by the students. “I am sorry I am not going to see the end result,” she said. “This is fantastic.”
Student Victoria Gridley, whose costume had taken 55 hours to sew, told the Duchess she had moved here from Australia to attend the school, to which the Duchess answered, “how are you feeling about the rugby?”
The students treated Camilla to several dances and songs throughout her time there. She attended a rehearsal of the Dance Studies graduation production of Paquita (Grand Pas) with Gary Trinder, director of the New Zealand School of Dance.
Charles and Camilla now head to Dunedin where they will ride the Taieri Express from Mosgeil to Dunedin Railway Station, and do a public walk to Toitu Otago settlers Museum.
They will then part company and the Prince of Wales will visit Animation Research and The Duchess before coming back together to visit the Orokonui Eco Sanctuary.
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